Facebook Invests in Media Relationships, Looks to Grow Mobile

Facebook's vice president of partnerships, Dan Rose, is working to build relationships with media companies, which could drive more ad spending.

Facebook shares slid lower Tuesday after a BTIG analyst downgraded the stock and questioned the company's mobile strategy. However, the social media giant's vice president of partnerships, Dan Rose, was optimistic about the company and its future while attending the Dive Into Media Conference in Dana Point, Calif.

Rose said, "2012 was the year we became a mobile first company, but 2013 is the year we are going to be a 'mobile BEST' company."

He pointed out that 680 million users are on Facebook's mobile app and 70 percent return every day.

On Tuesday, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield downgraded Facebook to "sell" and gave the stock a $22 price target. He warned that as more consumers shift to mobile, the less time they spend on Facebook.

At the conference, hosted by AllthingsD, Rose is working on building relationships with the media companies, which could drive the next phase of Facebook's mobile ad growth.

News, game, movie, and TV companies are interested in generating more conversation—content—about their products, which should drive more ad spending by those media companies.

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With apps like Spotify taking off last year, Rose believes 2013 is the year people will discover movies and other entertainment on Facebook.

"Every single company at this conference has the potential to be a big advertiser on Facebook because their goal is to try to get people to pay attention to their content, to download their applications to engage with what they do and Facebook is a tremendous platform for that," Rose said in a CNBC interview.

Movie studios have always been big advertisers on Facebook, Rose said. However, as media companies roll out more apps that work on Facebook's mobile platform, he expects big growth from ads to promote mobile app downloads.

And if it works, it should be a virtuous cycle—the more people use these mobile Facebook tools, the more Facebook will be able to market the apps—and content—to users friends.

Rose also oversees Facebook's acquisitions. Although he wouldn't reveal any details of what he has planned for this year, he said we can expect the company to continue to make strategic investments.